This $20 million project is important — unless you don't care about eating

Hear what U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue hopes to see from future generations of farmers and workers in agriculture, during the 90th National FFA Convention and Expo in Indianapolis, Oct. 25, 2017.
Jenna Watson/IndyStar

Richard Little, research technologist with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, right, operates a spreader in a field near Mead, Neb., Monday, March 30, 2015. The USDA releases its annual prospective planting report on Tuesday, March 31, 2015, which outlines farmer decisions about how much land to dedicate to corn, soybeans and other major crops including wheat and cotton.(Photo11: Nati Harnik, AP)

Within just decades, according to one U.N. official, all the world's top soil could be gone.

And with it, farming.

Soil degradation has become a serious problem over the years, and farmers along with experts in agriculture and conservation have taken notice.

"As we embark on a path to feed more and more people in a future 10 to 20 to 30 years from now, anything we can do to improve productivity and meet that growth is not only valuable, it's a necessity," said Brent Bible, who runs Stillwater Farms in Stockwell with partner Brandon Mosley.

"We all have to have food and have to eat," he said. "That's why people should care and should be concerned."

The Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research is concerned, which is why it announced Thursday a multimillion-dollar project to better study and develop tools to improve soil health. Along with many donors, the Foundation will give $20 million to three partners — the Soil Health Institute, Soil Health Partnership and The Nature Conservancy — to create a standard way to measure soil health, a system that is currently nonexistent.

Much of that work will be done right here in Indiana, said Sally Rockey after announcing the funding in Indianapolis at the Cover Crop Conference, using Hoosier farms as a "living laboratory."

Sally Rockey, executive director of the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research, announces $20 million in funding for a project to better study and improve soil health. She made the announcement Thursday at the Cover Crop Conference in Indianapolis.(Photo11: Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research)

"Soil is at the center of everything we do with farming, but it's a great unknown," said the executive director for the Foundation, which was created in 2014 out of the federal Farm Bill. "Now it's more important than ever to study soil to stop the loss and make the soil we have as productive as possible."

The funding, which will be administered over the course of five years, will be focused in three parts. The Soil Health Institute will work to create and set a standard system to measure the health of soil. The Soil Health Partnership will develop, implement and test tools and practices to improve soil health. Finally, The Nature Conservancy will work with landowners to make them aware and encourage the use of these science-based practices.

That these practices will be science-based is music to farmers' ears, according to Justin Schneider with the Indiana Farm Bureau. The director of state government relations said that farmers are open to trying new technologies and techniques, but they want to see some research before making that change.

"Ten years ago there was nothing going on in this area and five years ago it was just starting," he said. "So now we are getting to a point with more research so we can start to take the right steps toward soil health."

Some of those tools include planting cover crops — a crop to manage soil erosion and fertility — or to practice no-till farming — where tillage is the act of agitating the soil by digging or overturning, for example. Still, those are just some of the tools the industry knows about and farmers and researchers hope to discover many more.

Bible manages 3,000 acres across his farms near Lafayette, on which he plants cover crops or practices no-tillage. He started doing that several years ago and has begun to notice differences and more productivity in his soil, the farmer told IndyStar as he ran his tractor up and down his field.

One of Bible and Mosley's farms will be part of the project and a site for study, he added.

Yet their farm is just one of the many that will be involved — with more than 80 percent of Indiana being working lands, according to Jordan Seger with the state's Department of Agriculture.

"In many cases, this project and this investment will supplement and help build on a lot of the work that has been happening here over the last seven, eight, nine years," said the director for the division of soil conservation.

"Sitting in my government seat, I can't express how excited we are to have different players come into this space," Seger added. "It's too big for government to tackle on its own."

Rockey agreed, saying she has seen the gap in this type of work and that it is ripe for research.

"The time is now," Rockey said. "If not now, when?"

More information on the project:

The Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research, a nonprofit established through bipartisan support in the 2014 Farm Bill, today announced a $9.4 million grant to the Soil Health Institute, the Soil Health Partnership and The Nature Conservancy

The goal is to to improve soil health and, ultimately, support positive economic and environmental outcomes for American farmers.

The Soil Health Institute will develop and test soil health measurements; the Soil Health Partnership will implement and evaluate soil health promoting practices on working farms; and The Nature Conservancy will work with non-operator landowners to encourage use of science-based soil health practices.

The grant will be matched by General Mills, the Jeremy and Hannelore Grantham Environmental Trust, Midwest Row Crop Collaborative, Monsanto, Nestlé Purina PetCare Company, The Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation, Walmart Foundation, the Walton Family Foundation, and individual donors for a total investment of nearly $20 million.

Source: The Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research

Call IndyStar reporter Sarah Bowman at (317) 444-6129. Follow her on Twitter and Facebook: @IndyStarSarah. IndyStar's environmental reporting project is made possible through the generous support of the nonprofit Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust.